


Bat? More Cat Than Bat

by Angelicat2



Series: Sheith Month 2019 [21]
Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Allurance hints, Cute, Day 25-Free day, Fluff, Keith (Voltron) is a Good Friend, Lance (Voltron) is a Good Friend, POV Allura (Voltron), Popcorn, Shapeshifter Keith (Voltron), Sheith Month 2019, Sleepovers, Vampire Keith (Voltron), and possibly a tiny bit more mature than in canon
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-07-30
Updated: 2019-07-30
Packaged: 2020-07-27 10:00:51
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,915
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20044126
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Angelicat2/pseuds/Angelicat2
Summary: While having a sleepover/slumber party in the castle's lounge, their bat friend shows up. They find out said bat is clearly more cat than they ever thought.





	Bat? More Cat Than Bat

**Author's Note:**

> I love bat Keith so have more bat Keith!

Allura watched as the three youngest setup whatever they were doing…

It was something about a slumber party, some type of Earth tradition. Allura glanced about as she saw Pidge typing away at her screen, tongue out in the corner of her mouth in concentration. Lance was throwing - literally throwing - blankets about as if they were seeds needing to be planted. No surface was free from the thick and thin bundles, an odd mix of every color and weight imaginable. They had made about half of those in the lounge right now because apparently, humans got _cold_ sleeping with only one simple blanket. And then they had _insisted_ on making them color-coded, which really got a weird reaction from her Red and Black Paladins, both of whom glanced at each other like there was an inside joke somewhere in there. 

“Oh my quiznak,” Lance complained as he dropped one of the black blankets on the floor. It was one the size of her blankets on her bed, so it was quite understandable that the other was reacting this way, “How the hell does Shiro sleep with that thing? It’s heavier than me and Hunk added together. My respect for the guy has gone up even more now that I know he's not a pancake by breakfast time every day.”

“Trust me,” Pidge grinned over at the blue-clad teen, “Shiro could probably lift the two of you, so he's fine. Besides, I think Keith helps him put it wherever he wants it to be.”

“Keith!” Lance stared at her with a shocked expression, “Yeah, right! Sure. He has bad taste in hair and you’re trying to tell me that he can lift this stupid blanket?”

“Uh, yeah,” the youngest gazed at her computer for a moment before golden eyes found dark blue. Allura just watched them talk, “Keith can lift a lot of heavy stuff. If I hadn’t known Allura’s strength, I’d have assumed Keith was the strongest here. He lifted Shiro before without too many problems and that was...two years ago.”

“But Shiro’s like…” Lance paused for a second, deep in thought, “200 pounds!”

“Hey, I do not weigh that much,” a new voice joined them as they glanced over at the doorway. Shiro stood there leaning against the door, looking at them with a small grin before he glanced to the side, tiny pout, “Well, maybe now I do. The whole muscle-weighs-more-than-fat thing is true.”

“Hello, Shiro,” Allura turned to the tallest among them, watching as he waved back politely, “Where is Keith?”

“Yeah!” Lance exclaimed from the background as the Altean princess saw Pidge roll her eyes, “Where is he?”

“He said he was going to be doing something, and that he was joining us later on,” Shiro shrugged before rubbing at the spot on his black vest. Allura stared a little harder at that spot before something just as dark as the ebony material sprang to life, brushing its head against Shiro’s mechanical fingers. Shiro must have noticed that she just now noticed the little...bet? Rat? He didn't look unlike the rats they had on Altea...Earth names were weird...Shiro nodded, “Little Buddy decided to join us.”

Said ‘Little Buddy’ let out a series of squeaks - something that they probably heard when she spoke to the mice - before he flapped his way over to Lance who shouted in surprise. The little animal huffed with irritation before grabbing the corner of the heavy blanket with his teeth. A moment passed as he stared at Lance, unimpressed before he waddled backward, pulling the blanket with and keeping eye contact the whole time.

“Geez, geez,” Lance grimaced as he held the blanket up some to help the little bet move the heavy thing, “I get it. Even the bat is stronger than me. This slumber party hasn't begun and I'm already humiliated."

The bat - she was going to have to remember that - paused to let out another chirp, something akin to a laugh as his tail thumped from side to side. Before Lance could complain more, the bat launched himself onto the human's arm, making the other screech in surprise. After rolling his eyes, the bat made a small noise before _patting_ the other with his wing as if to appease him. Lance blinked before grinning. 

"You're one weird bat," Lance scoffed before shrugging, "Weird but cool."

The bat only huffed before he hopped off onto the floor, grabbing up the blanket once again. Dragging it further, he stopped at Shiro's feet, making a sharp chirping sound before rubbing his neck onto Shiro's black boots. Said man just chuckled softly before he carefully held the much smaller being in his hand.

“Thanks, Little Buddy,” Shiro grinned before grabbing up the blanket with his other arm, “Our usual spot, right?”

The bat chirped before nodding, tail wagging quickly. Allura raised a brow as Shiro settled the blanket down in the area that he and Keith usually sat at together when they were sitting around in the lounge. The bat flopped off of his hand onto the blanket, settling under the cover before pushing it up to his back, snuggling into a ball.

“Take a nap,” Shiro laughed quietly before turning to Lance, “So, what do you need help with?”

“I think I got it done,” Lance glanced around before looking over at Pidge, “Pidge is getting us some movies from her phone and computer.”

“And Hunk is in the kitchen baking some treats,” Allura spoke up as she glanced at the bundle of fur laying there. One of his ears flicked, but other than that, he stayed still, “Coran...is somewhere around here. I am not sure exactly what he’s doing…”

“Why, princess!” Said man strolled through the doorway with some stuff bunched in his hands, “I have brought some snarpule pops and nunvil!”

Lance turned green on the spot. Allura almost laughed at the expression on his face. At the same time, Shiro and Pidge raised a brow at the Blue Paladin. Allura remembered that both were not with the group when Lance had drank the alcoholic drink.

“Don’t give me that look,” the younger crossed his arms, “Nunvil is gross.”

“Such poor tastes,” Coran shook his head in disapproval before he sat the snacks down on the table in the middle of the sunken couches, “You are missing out, Number Three.”

“Who’s missing out on what?” Hunk asked from the door as he peeked in, hands full with a tray of food, "Uhh...Coran, is that nunvil?"

"Why yes it is!" The man shouted excitedly before pouring the purple drink into a glass, "Would you like some?"

"No...n-no thanks," Hunk frowned nervously as he brought the food in, "But I have this for us. Man, you wouldn't believe how hard it was to find corn in space. And flavors were an experience...not sure if the chocolate tastes like chocolate…But I did figure out a way to create peanut butter. Maybe I can use that for peanut butter cookies sometime."

Allura stared as the dish was set down. There were a few bowls filled with bumpy things covered in different stuff. Some were purple, some red, some green, and on until Allura couldn't name the colors. There were even some white and black ones in there. Curiously, she picked up a pink one, taking a bite. Flavor exploded in her mouth, tasting like something sweet and cheery.

“That’s bubblegum popcorn,” Hunk spoke up as she glanced at him, “Is it good?”

“It’s delicious, Hunk,” she nodded when she picked up another, “Thank you.”

“It’s no problem,” the bigger smiled as a tiny blush appeared on his face, “I just like baking.”

“Oh, man,” Lance groaned as Allura paid attention to him. The teen was standing in front of the bowl, and she didn’t see what caused him to say anything, “The bat’s going to get his fur in that popcorn.”

Sure enough, said bat waddled across the table, sticking his nose into the low popcorn bowl with a small huff. Sniffing over the rainbow pieces, he grabbed a dark red one before dropping it on the table’s surface. Taking a bite out of it, he paused before tilting his head. A tick passed before he sneezed all over the tiny bunch of food. 

“Ewww…” Lance grimaced as the same time that they all did. Before anyone could say anything, the bat sneezed again and again. Allura frowned as he continued for a long moment before the sneeze attack finally settled down. He plopped down into the table on his stomach, munching on the ‘popcorn' between his wings.

“Is that normal?” Coran asked with a raised brow as he stared at the poor bat who just continued munching on his snack, tail thumping softly, “Is there too much space dust in the castle? It hasn’t had a good cleaning for 10,000 deca-phoebes, after all!”

“It could be,” Shiro blinked before glancing at Hunk, “What flavor was it?”

“Dark red? Hmmm...cherry? Maybe?” Hunk squinted before he shrugged, “I mean, it’s hard to tell. But I’m sure it’s something close to cherry.”

“Hah,” Shiro snickered softly before brushing a finger over dark fur which made the bat flick his ear and trill, “He sneezes when he's happy sometimes."

As if to prove his point, the bat sneezed again before finishing the food. Climbing up the bowl, he once again hooked another piece - green this time - in his mouth before eating it. One moment, he was eating and next, his head snapped up, food forgotten in a bunch at his feet. His ears twitched, one after the other as if trying to locate something specific. After a few ticks, his ears went straight up as he stared right at something, a little squeak leaving his lips.

"Princess!" Coran's voice rang through the air as she looked over, "I found one of the castle's laser devices!"

A red dot of light flew over them, sliding against the wall and over one couch. Coran stood there with a white cylindrical hand-held machine in his hand, waving the device around. A small laser beam shot out of it, the same color as the Red Lion's shield. She vaguely remembered this device, but she didn’t have time to think about it. Before she could reply, another strange sound echoed in the room before something small and dark darted for the dot of light.

"Ahhh!" Someone in the group shouted in fear.

The bat rushed for the red light, pouncing on the dot. Coran jerked it up at the last second in his surprise, making it go onto the ceiling. Said bat tumbled to the floor in shock, ears twitching rapidly as he hissed slightly. Getting back up, he glanced around before tilting his head up at the dot, rear end wiggling side to side about to pounce again. Luckily, the oldest Altean was smart and quickly turned the light off, making the bat blink in confusion.

"What the quiznak was that!" Lance shouted as he laughed, "He went for it...like a cat!"

Allura was sure the bat glared at him.

“Cats chase lasers?” Coran asked curiously as he raised a brow, confused just as much as Allura was, “On Altea, cats didn’t do that.”

“Well, some Earth cats do,” Pidge spoke up as she shifted her glasses, “Something to do with moving objects bringing out their natural instincts to hunt. Why didn’t cats from Altea do that?”

“Wait,” Hunk tilted his head, still holding something in his hand that Allura could not see, “Altea had cats? Like...is the codeword for a lion or something? As in...four-legged, furry, meows cat? About the size of...someone’s shoulder? That type of cat?”

“Well-” Coran began to explain, “You see, Altea did, in fact, have cats. They we-”

“Who cares!” Lance shouted as he grabbed up the device from Coran’s hand, smirking widely, “We can mess with the bat.”

“Lance,” Hunk stared at him with the flattest look the princess had ever seen, “Leave Buddy alone.”

“Don’t tell me you’re not dying just as much as I am to see that again,” Lance raised a thin brow, “It’s been months since we’ve seen a cat, Hunk. The last one was that cat that kept following mullet all over the Garrison. Remember that cat?”

“I remember,” Hunk’s gaze softened before he sighed, “Fine. He’s a bat though…”

“So? He’s acting like a cat.”

“Maybe we should ask Shiro first?”

“Ask me what?” Shiro stared at them like he didn’t understand why they would ask him, “Little Buddy is his own person...well, bat. I don’t think it’ll bother him if he plays around for a bit.”

For a moment, the little bat stared at Shiro without moving before he huffed. By now, Allura was beginning to see that the huffs were a lot lighter when aimed at Shiro. Shrugging it off, she watched as the group settled into a tight cluster. Everyone, including Pidge, was holding his or her breath as Lance switched the device on.

The small dot appeared just before the bat. The ball of black fur stared at it for a moment before suddenly pouncing on it, claw on his wings waving at it. At the last second, Lance moved the laser beam, making it move a few feet ahead of the bat who growled slightly. Before their eyes, the bat rushed for it, jumping on the dot. Once again, it moved from it’s spot, sailing to the wall. The bat didn’t slow down at all, flapping his wings to get onto the wall before climbing it quickly. Allura watched in amazement as he moved his wings, each membrane thinning out as he stretched it. Little sharp claws cling to the smooth wall of the lounge as he hurried to the light beam. 

Lance snickered before waving the device around, creating a moving circle around the bat who began going in circles on the wall, somehow clinging to it still. A few seconds of fast turning later, the bat let out a weird chirp before falling onto the floor, having lost his grip on the white surface. They all jumped up in worry, but it was fine as the bat slowly got to his feet, shaking himself before sniffing around, attempting to find the dot.

The princess turned just in time to see Lance smirk again. Staring, she watched him dart his eyes from her to Shiro before carefully bringing the dot to Shiro’s chest. The older didn’t seem to notice, too focused on the little mammal to see it. Allura laughed behind her hand, trying to conceal the sound.

This would either end disastrously or very funny.

And then she didn’t have to wait as the bat caught a glimpse of the dot. With a small sound, he darted towards the bigger human whose eyes widened, mouth hanging open in shock as he finally saw the light beam on his chest. A small sound of protest left his lips before something plowed into him. Allura winced as Shiro flopped to the floor, luckily landing on the blankets just placed there. Were bats that strong?

“Timber!” Lance laughed before Pidge smashed her fist into his arm, “Hey! Owww! What was that for?”

“You could have hurt them!” Pidge glared back, about to snap something else when a tiny laugh made her freeze. Allura did the same when another laugh came, louder this time as they all gazed over to their Black Paladin. He was still resting on the floor, relaxed into the rainbow blankets. One arm was covering his eyes and the scar on his nose, but they could all see his grin.

“That tickles!” Shiro laughed again as the bundle of ebony on Shiro wiggled about, perched on his chest. Looking closer, Allura could see the bat licking at a spot on Shiro’s throat, which made the other chuckle all over again. She smiled at the cuteness, glad to see their serious leader less...well, serious. It was a nice change, one they didn’t get to see often unless Keith was by Shiro’s side. It just reminded her...that they were all children in this war, except for Coran. Even Shiro wasn’t all that much older than them, and yet they put a lot of pressure on him...on themselves...on each other…

“Hey,” Lance’s voice broke through her thoughts as she glanced over at the human, who smiled back, “No sad thoughts. Sleepovers are for fun and laughing and messing with friends…”

She expected him to say something else...perhaps to flirt badly with her. That was a bit aggravating. She didn’t mind Lance, but when he got that attitude...it bothered her. As a princess who sometimes met with foreign people, she was not unused to flirting, but Lance’s usually just annoyed her to no end.

“But…” He stared at her for a long moment, as if weighing his words before smiling more, “If you need to talk, I’m here...we all are, and we really would like to listen.”

“I…” She blinked at him in surprise as Shiro laughed again in the background while Pidge and Hunk muttered something she didn’t bother to understand, “Thank you, Lance.”

“Anytime,” the other nodded before an even louder snicker broke them out of their conversation. Shiro was still on the floor, gazing up at the ceiling now with tiny tears in his eyes, a content smile on his lips. The bat sat further up on his chest before leaning over, placing both wings on the older’s chin, patting one wing softly onto the other’s cheek. Shiro glanced over at the creature before rolling his eyes playfully.

“Yeah, yeah,” he replied as if he could understand the bat, “I know.”

The bat squeaked before curling up in the hollow of Shiro’s neck. A long tick went by before he rubbed his neck against Shiro's, making that trilling sound again. Hopping off of the man’s broad chest, he began awkwardly scurrying across the floor back to the black blanket just a little bit to the side. Part of it was underneath Shiro’s back, but the bat grabbed up the other corner before yanking it back with him. Unsteadily, he climbed Shiro’s chest backwards, pulling the cover over Shiro who just watched. When the heavy material completely covered Shiro, the bat huffed softly before crawling under the covers by the older’s throat, practically purring with happiness before he curled back up into a small ball.

“Well, looks like he wants Shiro to stay there,” Pidge teased with a grin as Shiro raised a brow, rolling his eyes. Yet the small smile stayed in place, getting bigger as the bat shifted slightly enough on him, “That’s gonna make it hard for Shiro to watch the movies though.”

“We can shift the system,” Hunk spoke up as he glanced at where the screen projector normally displayed the holographic screen, behind Shiro, “Make it show up on the other side of the room, right?”

“That we can!” Coran nodded before going on some type of rant that Allura could never hope to follow along with. Hunk and Pidge seemed to understand it though, if the looks of excitement were anything to go by. A few doboshes passed before Allura herself got bored with listening in, but she restrained herself from doing anything. She had been to much more boring meetings than this, she was fine.

Until something small smacked into her face. Whipping around, she glared at whoever threw whatever they had thrown. On the floor by her foot sat a blue piece of popcorn, so she stared over at a wide-eyed Lance who blinked before waving his hands in front of him.

“I didn’t do it!” He shouted as she stared at him harder before pointing down at the floor, “The mice did it!”

“Lance, the mic-” Allura went to defend the tiny creatures when another popcorn flew at her, plopping right between her eyes before falling to the floor. Allura moved her eyes to where one of the mice was frozen in place, having launched it at her while on top of the other three. The next second, all four burst out laughing at her as she raised a brow, “Very funny, you four.”

The mice squeaked out their own sayings overtop of each other, so the princess couldn’t quite understand what they were saying. Shaking her head, she picked up the popcorn bit before catching Lance’s eye, grinning back at him as he tried not to laugh. Settling the bit into her palm, she aimed before carefully flicking it through the air. The ball of purple sailed straight for the bottom mouse, all four letting out surprised shouts as they toppled onto each other. Both she and Lance busted out laughing as the mice glared at them.

“Oh my god!” Lance hunched over, laughing a lung out as Allura did the same, “They glare more than the bat! You really got them, Allura!”

“It...was…” She breathed out, trying to collect herself, “It was fun.”

The mice protested before she petted them, causing them to rush up her sleeve to her shoulders. 

“Awww…” Allura grinned at them from the corner of her eyes, “You guys are adorable.”

One mouse sent her a big grin while another literally got sparkles in his eyes, looking up at her. Allura grinned as she petted them again. Glancing over, she saw that the three were finished, the screen set up to the side, already loading a movie on it. Settling onto a bright pink blanket in her usual corner, she grinned as she rested her head against the couch. The other teen sat down close to her side, which she didn’t mind as he pointed at something that popped up on the screen. Allura listened to him explain it, glancing over at Shiro who was asleep already. The tiny bundle of fur shuffled from underneath the blanket, peaking out his head before sniffing Shiro’s chin. Whatever he saw must have made him happy because the next tick, he let out a trill before yawning with the cutest yawn Allura had ever seen, little mouth opening widely before plopping shut. With one last lick to the man’s pale skin, the bat crawled back under the blanket, curling back up before going to sleep.

“Lance.”

“Uhhh…” The other looked at her, pausing before blinking, “Yeah?”

“If we ever get to Earth someday,” she watched him, “Will you show me what a cat is like?”

“Yeah,” he responded back with a grin, “That and more. You’ll love the beach! And my momma makes the best garlic knots! Oh! And the rain!”

“Rain!” Coran interrupted as they glanced at him, the older Altean practically smothered in a bunch of blankets, “Such a strange concept! Rain! Water from the sky! What a thing!”

Allura and Lance just laughed as the man went on about it. Sneaking a glance over at the other teen, Allura smiled as she carefully petted the mice on her shoulders. All four had fallen asleep in the excitement, laid out on her chest. Moving to not disturb them, the Altean pulled up the blanket, wrapping it around her as the room fell silent except for the movie. The lights dimmed, as per her request, making the movie easier to see.

Sleepovers were fun. Perhaps they would have more in the future.


End file.
